◎◎

In a very popular TV soap opera "House of Cards" (No.7, qtr.3), the US president said "(a maid) In high demand, because she is white", ...,"People assumed she (a white-women maid) wouldn't steal any valuables, and of course she did".  (ps: Chinese leader Xi Jinping referred to "House of Cards" in his speech to American -  reported by New York Times, BBC, CNN, Bloomberg, etc at 9-23-2015)

The renowned director Ang Lee（李安）, Chaired the panel judges and selected the Singapore's film “Ilo Ilo”( "爸媽不在家") as Best Feature Film award in Taiwan's 50th Golden Horse film festival held recently.   The movie “Ilo Ilo”'s story-plots include a foreign maid working in the leading actor's house and stealing some make-up stuffs.

Is the personality of foreign laborers (care givers) bad?       ●  see more critiques / illegal migrants run away foreign workers in Taiwan;  foreign workers  in Taiwan

In Taiwan, most Indonesian care givers (laborers') do not have good education,  foreign workers from Philippines are bit better, I met several Philippines candidates expressing they owned college or university degree, however, I did test a Normal university student care giver, she can pronounced "gourmet" or "epicure" much better than almost all Taiwanese do, but she's never seen these words before.  Another foreign laborer (care giver) from Philippines only know "bicycle", not "bike".   In spite of these, according to my limited experience, Philippines maids abide by the law better (some article said that's because of  colonial domination by Westerners before)

Generally speaking, four most found crimes that foreign maids made are 1. guilty of burglary, 2. deliberately/malicious destroy/damage, 3. bully or violence against the elderly, 4. play hooky from work, leave old people alone or in danger

Can we deal with those criminal behaviors?  Not too easy !!
Can Taiwanese government or judiciary successfully handle these cases?  or are they not tough enough??

★1.  Foreign workers' crimes

1.  Bully or violence (in rough way or smart way) against the elderly & playing hooky from work, leaving old people alone or in danger

	Foreign laborer (care giver) tortured and abused old people ―  The only thing Taiwan can do is repatriate them !!
	pic.: FTV (民視新聞) 9-2-2018: Indonesian care giver hit the old man by her "kongFu" foot,  Taiwan can only give gave her some money penalty-fine and repatriate her		pic.: TVBS 9-8-2018: Indonesian care giver slapped the face of a old man, and humiliated him, Taiwan can only repatriate her.
	pic. right:  FTV, 9-4-2018, the care giver abusing old man was repatriated by Labor Gov., but, she can come back Taiwan anytime for working again because the victim has not brought a suit case against her ...		The evil care giver might not be guilty in criminal law if she only "humiliate" the old man not in a public place (3+ persons) and without hospital's official examination doc., Taiwan gov. should do something more ―  a transparent resume system, so that all Taiwanese employers can ref. to her previous employers' opinions.  　 Many other evil behaviours that Indonesian care giver did to Taiwanese old people, e.g.,  ignoring old people's requests, let their wounded places (pressure sore) being soaked in piss and waste,  opening the door and let the public see old people's naked body,  fast-feeding resulted in lung disease (吸入肺炎)、 leaving her working position while cooking led to a fire accident, ......  the agent (broker) said these Indonesians are "under protection" in suit case.  if so, we should suspect if any officials took bribery ?   Let's see how the prosecutor (judge) conclude this kind of cases.

	Foreign laborer (care giver) Violence against old people ―  Can Taiwan repatriate them ??
	pic.:  CTV evening news (7-31-2015 中視) /  a female foreign worker abused violence against a mom with Dementia, e.g., pounding her fists on the old lady's cervical vertebra, pulling victim's hair, all these resulted in victim's whole body being covered with  bruises.	pic.: An Indonesian foreign laborer (care giver) abused violence against a paraplegic old lady for half year because of impatience, that Indonesian maid roughly tore off victim's bladder catheter, and cruelly grasped paraplegic patient's head and kept hard-hitting the bed many times, It's a very horrible film, however, at end of CTV's video report, we heard victim's families screamed & complained that the best Taiwan can do is repatriating her back home Indonesia.  /  Apple Daily, CTV evening news 10-20-2015.	pic.: headline, TTV evening news, 2-20-2016 　 a foreign laborer lost her patience, pulled sort of hearing-impaired patient's ear and screamed that she wanted to look for friends,  in spite of that the old lady wanted to return home.

◎

◎

pic. below: An Indonesian maid stole and sold boss's gold and jewels totally worth NT 810 thousands dollars.  The boss trust this laborer (care giver) working 7 years, and treat her as a member of his family, however, she stole more and more expensive jewels. / TVBS & all media, Dec. 25, 2015	No. 1 on US google by keyword "international workers in Taiwan" , 2-12-2018, 1.1.2017, 10-30-2017; "foreign laborers in Taiwan" ranks No.1 on Google, 2-12-2018, 10-30-2017

◎

2. deliberately/malicious destroy/damage, guilty of burglary

●  damage  /  Foreign laborers (care giver) may scratch your expensive antique, furnishings, refrigerator, etc while wiping by a cleaning rag or a rag with a short 'needle' hidden in, most secret camera can't catch it, they also may open or half open some bottle cap - particularly important medicine's cap, to threaten their boss for giving better treatment or extra benefit, etc.  Beside, they can damage something in her room and rest room where no camera can be installed. 

●  burglary /  according to my experience,  the foreign laborer (care giver) brought a bowl together with garbage and walked toward trash room, then she probably own and later sell out that fine china box.   

◎

★2. Real motives of foreign workers' criminal activities?

      1. lower education and personality in nature -  Taiwanese government likely already knew some of foreign nationals having some sort of problems, according to the latest (being modified) law, those applying for naturalization by marriage require "good conduct" ("correct behavior") and approval by Ministry of Interior, the Next Magazine (7-9-2015) questioned it's an "abstract" phrase, and an obstacle to give them hard time, but some foreign laborers did commit crimes and their bosses most likely were unable to catch them with any criminal behavior proofs.   or/and

      2. easy money to get, they can't resist the greedy heart.   or/and

      3. Taiwan's foreign-laborer (care giver) adm. system
           It's not a open system in Taiwan.  According to the United Daily News (7-21-2015), more and more severe disabilities or patients failed to hire any foreign worker, the reason is too simple, foreign workers prefer an easier job, and Taiwanese man-power brokers prefer quick money-benefit so as to select those easy-job families (those patients easy to take care or not severe disabilities) for foreign workers, otherwise other brokers take it one step earlier.   According to the United Daily News (7-22-2015), Taiwanese labor government expressed that in order to protect the rights of severe disabilities and patients, foreign laborers (care giver) are not allowed to request reassigning themselves to a new boss unless 3 sides (workers, old boss, new boss) reach an agreement, because, once the disabilities or/and patients release the foreign worker, they will be hardly or wait a long time to get a new worker.   Taiwanese government may think it's a well-designed system, however, there're tricky loopholes out there, and laborer (care giver) brokers and many foreign workers suppose are very aware of the legal boundaries, and already exploited a loophole in the legislation to solve it.

           Those devious maids may find some way out, e.g.,
            (1) trying to get rid of severe patients and disabilities (or want more benefits) by committing crimes (scratching refrigerator, etc) to scare or threaten the patient's families who hardly find some proofs to bring a suit  against the worker, or/and
           (2) await the patient to ask workers to pay compensation by deducting salary, or paying cash, etc, the maid may pretend willing to pay, but denied later in front of gov. officials, so that the worker can request labor government to transfer her to a new boss by law (severe patients may not know the law - "就業服務法"), Taiwan's officials may not make right judgment and decision.
           (3) if severe disabilities endure all those tricks or criminal activities, the foreign worker still may do collusion & run away to broker's place, the broker may shield the worker, one possibility can not be totally excluded -  after their maid's working 9 months, the broker can only get NT1800 per month from patients, but the brokerage company can earn a much bigger money from a new contract.  
           (4) The letter of authorization to represent the boss or make and use boss's or patient's stamp-seal (equal legal effect as signature) for application for some routine issues e.g., maid's certificates, that the broker asked patient's families to sign at the very beginning turns into a weapon to knock down the patient's side, most patients may think it's signed for routine matters (it suppose so) and for simple purpose (otherwise no any patients will sign this), but it may become a passport for maids to change place of residence, which means legally leave from severe disabilities or patients, it may take a long time and hardship for the boss to win (or may not win) their maid back if the patient side brings this into a legal process.  Taipei's labor government won't cancel the approval of maid's changing place of residence, and will suggest the boss to fight in the courthouse - so that the disabilities will be alone for a long time.
           (5)  foreign workers may ask relocation by excuses such as the patient or disabilities asked them to do something improper like house-works (many taking-care jobs are not heavy at all, or many families may already helped or gave benefits to their maids corresponding to their house-works), but according to the Liberty Times (4-17-2015), it's already a social reality (laborers doing some house work) in everywhere on the streets in Taiwan.   When it comes to a social phenomenon, the government, instead of the patient, probably is the major one should be responsible for all these.             
             (6) according to legal cases (e.g., prosecutor's case <95年度偵緝字第919號>), more than one maid were suspicious of making fake bruises or wounds to poison their boss, and/or took phone records as evidence, in other hand, the broker side testified the maid was looking terrible (seems being abused), and the labor government official even accompanied the maid to hospital for medical check, although eventually the courthouse did not accept those "evidences" for judgment, the devious maids may improve their their tricks.  What a bad situation Taiwanese patients are facing !!   ◎

◎

★3. Solutions:  A lawyer told me that choosing a bad maid, just like inviting a fox into a hen house ("引狼入室"), it's very difficult to prevent them from having criminal or semi-criminal behavior (damaging your stuffs, etc) .

●  Probably many bosses need installing secret camera to avoid many bad behaviors happened, in spite of that the equipment can not find many tiny little details, but it really works well for some and larger pictures, e.g., some foreign workers hurt or slapped face of patients or elders when other family members were out of home.

●  We need
     (1) more affordable workers or social welfare foreign laborers (care giver) on local market,  otherwise, the elderly and disabilities patients exiling a bad one may wait a long time to get another bad one exiled by another disability. 
     (2) simplify the procedure or shorten the waiting time to apply for a new laborer (care giver) from overseas.  Once the disability let go the foreign worker, probably fall into a no-worker-available-in-Taiwan bad situation for a long time, but if they apply for a new one from overseas, the waiting time usually is longer, say 4+ months, furthermore, going through the procedure is troublesome, e.g., Many of Taiwan's medical Doctors don't like to sign a document.
     (3) according to system rule, if the bad maid is willing to or has to go back her country (being repatriated) , Taiwanese patient or disability can get a new maid sooner and a lot easier.   However, Taiwan's labor government usually don't repatriate the bad maid unless she made serious mistake and was found with hard evidence.  National Taiwan University legal consultation (each Sat.) told me the foreign worker will be repatriated only if you can persuade labor gov. with proofs that all other Taiwanese patients don't dare to use her (in contrast, the percentage of foreign laborers 介護 being eliminated in Japan is about 55%), for instance, according to CTV news, an Indonesian foreign laborer (care giver) abused violence ( roughly tore off victim's bladder catheter, and cruelly grasped paraplegic patient's head and kept hard-hitting the bed many times) against a paraplegic old lady for half year, more likely will be repatriated, but the paraplegic victim's families screamed and complained the punishment is not enough.
     (4) United Daily News (11-4-2015): Those Indonesian and Philippines laborers taking care of the elderly took medical care training courses before coming Japan, the percentage of passing national examination after 3 years is 45%, others must be back home.   In Japanese mind, this job (介護) is "3K" - "dirty", "risky", and "hard-working", we need more good foreign laborer (care giver) ignoring "3K", instead of lazy tricky maids.  

●  Negotiating with some more poor countries, so that Indonesian etc won't dominate and control the market, and Taiwanese disabilities can get rid of bad maids.  The Liberty Times (自由時報, 3.2.2014) reported some brokers don't have any laborer (care giver) on hand, some even are afraid of answering the phone, because they don't know how to explain this.   Some said in average 3 patients were fighting for one foreign workers.  Certainly laborers may found they are rare and "valuable", certainly prefer an easier job, this is so called "Adverse Selection", hence those patients with serious illness or life in danger are hard to get laborers.  News reported Taiwanese government kept talking with some other Asian countries for years, but no any successful result at all (till present Feb. 2016).

◎
●  Taiwan's United Daily News system ( 經濟日報、聯合晚報) reported at 2015-11-28 :" foreign laborers are picky about their patients, and will reject all patients weighting 70 kg or more, and most likely will reject severe disabilities, ... some younger maids even got an "illness" namely "Want to be a princess" - which means they want an easy job.   In contrast, <中天>TV evening news reported at 11-29-2015 8:17pm that 80% laborers in Japan work so hard that suffer back pain. 

◎
●  Many experienced brokers suggest using foreign workers who are the1st time coming Taiwan, but in today, foreign laborers can easily learned and communicates their tricks and ploys each other by internet or cell-phone.  Taiwanese government needs more muscle to handle bad laborers, thus others will be scared, or else even judiciary may be laughed by them.  

◎
●   Taiwanese labor government advised the contract between boss and laborer is very important to labor dispute or conflict (United Daily 11-1-2015: foreign laborers only account for 1.9% of all laborers, but the number of dispute cases is up to 30% of all ), however, things seem to be not so simple, for instance, the agent may give you a no-good contract to sign, or many foreign workers brokerage companies gave related knowledge that the first and most important necessity (要件) to repatriate a bad or ineligibility foreign worker is giving her/him 3 warning letters, but, even this clause is written in your contract, Taiwan's labor government may not accept them, and Taiwan's judiciary may not give the judgment to repatriate laborers eventually because it's not a criminal case.   There are too many illegal run-away foreign laborers in Taiwan, the police seems fail to arrest them, many illegal run-away have salary better than many Taiwanese, the Liberty Times reported at 12-14-2015 that one illegal foreign laborer drives a Germany Mercedes Benz to work.

●  Some experts in media suggest boss to apply for a false sequestration (假扣押 ) when you found foreign laborer having stolen stuffs, but Taiwan's Judiciary hardly approve the application.

In brief, Taiwanese government has been criticized by world human rights institutions for Taiwanese abusing foreign laborers, on the other hand, Taiwanese government does not spend enough efforts on or lacks ability of better handling foreign laborers who abused Taiwanese patients, the disability, and the elderly.

◎

PS1  The Liberty Times - hard to get a foreign laborer (Chinese version)